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New CDC Analysis on Binge Drinking

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a new report focusing on binge drinking among women and high school girls based on an analysis of the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) among high school age students and the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) a monthly tracking health survey. The CDC went on to call the problem serious – which it is – but also unrecognized – which frankly it is not.

That said, The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility recognized the troubling impact of drinking among young women nearly ten years ago when it created its Girl Talk program with assistance from the Society for Women’s Health Research.

Unfortunately, the report fails to mention that overwhelmingly Americans (82%) are not binge drinkers and according to the same 2011 YRBS 78% of high schools students do not binge drink. The report also fails to provide a comparison between females and their male peers (who, in fact, binge drink in higher numbers).

Furthermore, the 2012 Monitoring the Future Study released in December 2012 highlighted that binge drinking has been steadily declining for more than a decade among America’s youth as has lifetime alcohol consumption, and the availability of alcohol to underage youth has also continued to decline.